Running, resting, and injury

<Reluctantly raises hand> I've been sidelined with a cycling injury (piriformis) for the past couple of weeks because I knew I had injured myself on a training ride and insisted on riding my event the next week. If I had paid attention and skipped that ride (which was essentially just another training ride for an event next weekend) I wouldn't be sitting out the upcoming ride, which was my end goal. Good reminder, @Orphia

Looking at my extended training group, I can probably name a similar number of runners and triathletes in this position.

I am a good example of what not to do. I'm currently "enjoying" a season off from training and racing due to a chronic achilles injury. After nursing it along for eighteen months while visiting several specialists and doing multiple rounds of PT, I finally got a dose of reality from my wife's chiropractor (who is also an ultra runner). His message was simple: " Either you decide to take an entire season off to let this injury heal and allow me to help you actually correct your posture problem, or you will face ongoing symptoms that will worsen each time and force you to quit running completely in the near future."

So I"m now limited to swimming and yoga, while my friends are in active training for the NYC triathlon in July and IronMan Mont Tremblant in August. I've had to withdraw from both races.

Best case, I'll be able to resume some light cycling this summer and return to running in the fall.

I've got chronic hamstring pain. I've been dealing with it off and on for years. It made my last marathon training cycle painful the whole 18 weeks and affected my race. After the race I cut way back on my running and my hamstrings were fine on my rest days, painful on my running days. So I went to a PT who said to take a week or two off and work on stretching and strengthening. I took one week off, then started running again. Although I was able to do cross-training, I missed running. Spring is a hard time to be housebound. So I'm back to feeling pain on all my runs. I know I should probably take more time off, but resting doesn't seem to heal it, except short term. I've tried before. I'm hoping that focusing on stretches and glute work will do some good, because if not, I'll have to stop running for more than a couple of weeks, and I really don't want to do that.

After a challenge taken to extreme I started having IT band pain. Anything over six and I had to use KT and by mile 13 I was in pain with every step. I thought for months, I just have to work through this it will get better. Push through the pain.
I was forced to take two weeks off due to an insane work schedule and I haven’t had the pain for over 30 days now. And I ran 17 miles three weeks ago and two 10 miles back to back. I am amazed. Pushing through is not always the answer.

I'll get all the rest I need after I'm dead...😂😂😂

I've since retired from running formal races because I push myself too hard but I had a case of shin splints that I didn't rest properly and turned into stress fractures. Took 8 weeks of absolutely zero running to finally get pain free after 4 weeks of thinking I'd be OK running a partial load.

A partial load was absolutely not OK. Anything more than 1 run per week and I was in agony.

In my early days getting back to fitness I learned the hard way. At one point I was doing Starting Strength 3x per week, training for a sprint triathlon, and racing cyclocross on the weekends with a practice session on Tuesday evenings. The load was too much and ended up sidelined for a couple months. The injury happened about 2 weeks before the triathlon, so I never got to do it.

I'm active most days of the week, but it is varied in duration and intensity and I have along the way also learned about the importance of cross training. I've had a few repetitive motion injuries over the years from overdoing things on the bike. Currently I'm only riding 2-3 days per week...mostly conversational paced rides for 45-60 minutes, swimming once or twice per week and lifting 2-3x per week and walking my dog.